St. Louis Fed Chairman to Stay Extra Month

Thomas Melzer will remain president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis through January, rather than resigning on Jan. 1 as previously announced, the St. Louis Fed said.

Mr. Melzer, 52, will stay on to give the bank's search committee more time to find a successor, said Charles Henderson, a Fed bank spokesman.

Once the search committee finds a candidate, the bank's nine directors will vote on the nomination. Their choice goes to Fed board of governors in Washington for approval.

Mr. Melzer announced Oct. 2 that he planned to retire. He isn't expected to seek another post until he leaves the St. Louis Fed.

Although Mr. Melzer isn't a voting member of the Federal Reserve's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee, he was scheduled to become one next year. He is not expected to attend the committee's first 1998 meeting, scheduled for Feb. 3 and 4.

Before joining the St. Louis Fed on June 1, 1985, Melzer was a managing director at Morgan Stanley & Co.